The Mist - III

I left Dorothy in the misty mountaintop and came back to the hustle and bustle of Guwahati with hopes of seeing her again.

My life was going into a downward spiral. The army operation was going on in full swing and every day one or other of my friends was getting caught. Extreme violence engulfed our society where the vicious cycle of violence and revenge continued.

It was problematic for me to go repeatedly to the hills with the excuse of studying the rock formations. Even my professors became suspicious and asked probing questions about my movements.

The extremist group of which I was a minor member broke up into various factions and inter-faction rivalry, violence and killings started.

One day, in an extremely depressed condition, when nothing was going right I decided to go back to Dorothy and spend some time with her. I badly needed a break and Dorothy’s hut in the misty hills beckoned me. I was not sure about my feelings for Dorothy but I was sure I wanted to be near her.

The misty hills engulfed me in an embrace. This time I was not on an assignment and I went to her village with a clear conscience. As I knocked on her door the old woman with the wrinkled face opened the door and on seeing me, gave me a smile. The welcome was reassuring and made me feel so happy.

This time Dorothy was not sick and on seeing me, she smiled and said, “Hello Stranger, I was thinking about you”.

It was not a rainy day for once. After putting down my bag I started helping in various household chores. At one point in time, two carpenters came to repair a part of the wooden beams of the house. I noticed a strange thing about them – just before entering the house they said “Hail Mary” and prayed for their own safety. Although I found it odd, I did not pay too much attention to the matter. I helped the carpenters in replacing a rotten beam at the back of the house.

In the evening Dorothy asked me to join her for a walk in the small path leading to the village. The social norms and culture of those people were different from ours. People were not hypocrites and nobody looked askance at the fact that a young man is staying alone with Dorothy, in her house. As we walked through the small pathway, I was again surprised to see that whenever people saw her they made signs of the Cross and prayed for their own safety.

We went to the top of a hill where a light breeze was blowing. While standing on the hill we saw a huge dark cloud slowly engulf the northern sky and move towards us at a rapid pace. “Come, Stranger”. Dorothy said, “The storm will be on us very soon”.

The rain started by the time we reached her home. It was a deluge of biblical proportions. As the night descended the old woman left us, hurriedly. Only Dorothy and I were there in the log hut. The candle was splattering in the damp air. It was barely burning.

Suddenly the sound of the storm changed and it was fearsome. The storm sounded like the galloping hooves of a thousand warhorses. Even the wind started wheezing in a queer frenzy.  Dorothy listened for some time and looking at me said “Hailstorm”. The sky thundered with great flashes of lightening.

Suddenly we saw a north facing window spring a leak. It seems the carpenters who changed the wooden beam during the daytime left a minor part of the work undone. Before we could do much, the wind swept in with a lot of rainwater. Dorothy took out an oil skin from under the table and both us struggled against the hailstorm to cover the leaky spot in the window with the oil skin. By the time we blocked the ingress of water we were both drenched and tired.

Dorothy started shivering. I took it to be due to the fact that the rain drenched her. But going near to her it was apparent that she was again having the attack of high fever.

She told me - "I think there is really a dark force that is drinking my blood. I feel so weak." Nervously fingering the cross hanging around her neck she said, "Since the time the Snake God chose my family for its need for human blood, everyone has died. I am the only one left. He is living on my blood. Nothing will save me now".

That day, in the glow of the candle, her greenish eyes showed a kind of helpless fear. I lifted her from the chair and took her to the fireplace. We sat on an armchair as near to the fireplace as possible. The cold and dark night made us cling to each other. I hugged her tight as she sat on my lap.

The misery and fear in her eyes made me feel restless and angry. I asked her to tell me the story of the snake god that is reared by the shaman and lives on human blood.

The Snake God is a powerful and benevolent God that covers the mental horizon of these people. The God is very powerful and once he takes abode in a village the villagers are blessed with the bounty of the harvest and good fortune. The Snake God protects villagers from any major calamity of nature. As such villagers revere and pray to the Snake God for good health and prosperity.

There is only one catch, the Snake God selects one family from the village and lives on their blood. Dorothy’s family was selected by the Snake God.

First, her father died. All that the Doctor said was – “He is suffering from Anaemia”. After her father, her brothers and sisters died one by one – all with intermittent high fever and anemia. Her mother died last.

After that Dorothy left the village and took up the job of a school teacher. She shifted to a small wayward village. She hoped that in case she changed her residence the Snake God might let her live. Within a few months, she realized that the Snake God has got a taste for her blood. She too started suffering from intermittent fever and anemia.

People tolerated her like a sacrificial victim and maintained some distance from her in fear. The old woman was the only one who maintained some proximity to her. However, she never stayed for the night in fear of catching the eye of the Snake God.

However, the people also cherished her presence because it is only because of her the Snake God blesses the village with His benevolence. The people are helpful towards her but distant.

I knew that nothing that I might say or do will clear her mind. Her mental space has been conditioned by a decade of experience where she has lost all her near and dear ones. She believed in the concept of the Snake God. It will not be possible for me to change her mindset so soon.

I again brought out my packet of medicines, mostly tablets for high fever and took her to the bed, after giving her one tablet. She came to my arms immediately. As I slept with her in my arms the thundering rain continued. Her whole body was hot with fever. Since the weather was very cold with the hailstorm, I enjoyed her feverish but warm presence in my arms.

In the log fire, I looked at her green eyes and saw that she was trying to tell me something. The sound of the storm was so loud that I could not clearly hear what she was saying. I put my ears near to her lips and heard her say, “I do not want to die – save me”. I hugged her as tight I could and started singing a gospel song gently close to her ears.

When my way grows drear

Precious Lord linger near

When my life is almost gone

Hear my cry hear my call

Hold my hand lest I fall

Take my hand precious Lord

Lead me home

Precious Lord, take my hand

Lead me on let me stand

I am tired, I am weak, I am worn

Through the storm through the night

Lead me on to the light.

My song calmed her and she slept fitfully in my arms. She was sick and tired and so thin.

As I held her body in my arms, my body responded normally like a man’s body is supposed to react when he holds a beautiful woman. However, seeing her sick and tired I did not feel like messing about. I did not try to break the sexual barrier with her. She slept in a fever induced tiredness in my arms till my arms were stiff in pain.  

One time in the night I woke up and found her going through violent convulsions. Her whole body was shaking like an oak tree caught in the storm. The rain had slightly abated and I could hear her feverish moans. She opened her green eyes and looked at me in fear. The candle had long since extinguished but the room was still lighted by the embers of the log in the fireplace.

Holding her tightly in my arms, I became afraid that she might die in my arms and I will be charged with her murder tomorrow. She looked at me with terrified eyes and clinging to me muttered – “Save me, save me”. Something in her look made me terrified and I shouted to her, “Dorothy, just hold on for tonight, by tomorrow I will save you from all this. I swear”. She somewhat calmed down after that and again went into a restless sleep in my arms.

Although I made the commitment, I did not have any clue on how I will save her. I was a poor student. I did not have the resources and connections to take her to Guwahati and get an appointment with a specialist. Moreover, I come from a conservative society and bringing a girl home with me would have created a scandal in my whole family.

I kept awake a long time after that. I woke up to find that morning has broken and the old woman was knocking at the door. As I opened the door for her she walked in and taking a look at Dorothy, started doing her household chores.  She could make out that I was sleeping with Dorothy but did not make any issue with that.

Dorothy’s fever has abated and she was still asleep when I requested the old woman to go and bring the village Shaman immediately.

When the Shaman came Dorothy was awake. I explained to the Shaman that he must cast the necessary spells so that the Snake God stops drinking the blood of Dorothy and starts drinking my blood. Dorothy gave a gasp when she heard me saying that. The Shaman went out to bring his things and Dorothy came near to me.

After a few moments, Dorothy asked me, “Have you fallen in love with me?”  I did not want to tell her a lie and so said truthfully, “I am not sure”. Actually, our cultural and psychological condition was too far apart for me to fall in love with her. However, I was attracted to the enigmatic woman and I cannot deny that to myself.

She again asked me, “Then why are you sacrificing your life for me?” I told her, “Dorothy, I am a worker of a terrorist organization. The intelligence services are behind me. It is simply a matter of time before they catch me. Once I am caught and taken to their interrogation chambers – I will die a horrible death in their hands. My dead body will lie unclaimed in the morgue of a police station with a number. In other words, my days are already numbered and offering myself to the Snake God is not a sacrifice at all”. She stayed silent and kept looking at me with her enigmatic green eyes.

After some time, the Shaman came with a small wooden bowl wrapped in a dead snake skin. He also brought a dry piece of some animal bone.

The Shaman started his work by asking me to give him a piece of cloth that I have been using for six months, at the least. I gave him my handkerchief.

He next pierced my thumb with a bamboo needle and took six drops of blood from my thumb. He soaked the blood with my handkerchief and put the handkerchief in the bowl. After that, he did some incantations which I did not understand.

As he went away with his things, the old woman laid the table with food and both Dorothy (Whose fever has abated by now) and me had a long and hearty meal.

As I packed my bags and bid adieu to Dorothy she kissed me on my lips. It was the first time that I was kissed by a woman. The old woman with the wrinkled face continued doing her household chores without any change in her expressions.

The rain has stopped by then and I started for my home. The fact that the Snake God will feed on my blood did not concern me in the slightest. I was an educated man and did not believe in the occult or sorcery.

I planned to come back again because the kiss was promising.